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There were rumors circulating before the Caliber was released that a sedan variant might be in the works. I think that bit of information was unfounded and probably circulated by a "wishful thinker" instead of an actual reliable source.

It's a shame that it wasn't true. I think Chrysler LLC lost market share by only offering hatchback/crossover configurations in the compact segment since the demise of the Neon (not that I want to see the Neon resurrected). Not every customer shopping in the compact segment wants a hatch/crossover product.

I would still love to see Dodge (and only Dodge) offer a family of front wheel drive compact variants (sedan, coupe, hatch/wagon, and crossover). I think this would contribute more to their turnaround efforts than offering subpar, brand inappropriate products (Compass, Patriot, PT Cruiser) from Jeep and Chrysler. There is a limit to how many hatch/crossover products you can sell in the market no matter how much you vary the styling/design.

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That's too bad, in a market where the small car segment is becoming ever more popular with the rise of gas prices, they could certainly use more body styles. Since they've got a platform ready to go I think it would make logical sense, oh well.

This is far and away THE BIGGEST gaping hole in the lineup-no compact passenger car. I see the I wanna hate it but I almost like it Caliber as a crossover wagon like HHR and Vibe, not a compact passenger car in the Cobalt-Civic-Focus mold. Being innovative and going into another category is one thing, but abandoning a core market, like the mainstream compact is inexcusable and stupid.

And the Avenger is one of the most underwhelming pieces of crud in a long line of forgettable, unadvertised mid-size Dodges. Look at the pattern: the Coronet/Monaco sold poorly in the 1970's; anybody remember the K-Car 600? Or the Diplomat before it was promoted as full-size? Or the awful Aspen that spawned it? The boxy Spirit and Dynasty? The unadvertised-ever Stratus? Something's gotta give.....

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The Caliber isn't a completely horrible idea or vehicle. It suffers from some bad execution and market planning. I think Chrysler thought that if they put a hatch/crossover combo product on the market, they could attempt to have one vehicle cover the entire compact segment. It's admirable that they were daring enough to try something different, but the concept was a little misguided. They simply missed an opportunity to take advantage of rising gas prices by not having more configurations available in the compact segment. The money wasted creating unnecessary variants for Jeep (Compass and Patriot) should have been spent creating variants for Dodge as well as ensuring that these products were designed/engineered to be totally class competitive. Unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20 and Chrysler was misguided/starved by Daimler at the time.

Let's just hope that Cerberus has the resources and wisdom to get Chrysler back on track. Some of their recent moves have appeared to be a little shaky (or shady, if they really plan on disassembling the company), but I still hope that they will turn Chrysler's fortunes around.

Yeah but Neon didn't go too far past the 100,000 mark for a few reasons, biggest being the same problem that always plagued the mid-size Stratus (and pretty much any mid-size Dodge throughout the 40-year history of mid-size Dodges): NO FREAKING ADVERTISING WHATSOEVER!!!!!! So the product became boring, stale (a la 1971-78 Coronet/Monaco or Stratus). Plus the first-generation had a poor reputation for quality, kind of like one of the few popular mid-size Dodges of the past: the notorious 1976-80 Aspen. And I don't see much advertised on Caliber or Avenger these days (I can see why for Avenger, but a little less so with Caliber).

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Neon also majorly sucked because it was one of the last holdouts with a 3-speed auto, power windows available only in the front, and an engine so rough and buzzy it made your grandmother's 87 Escort feel like a BMW I6.

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the most recalled car until the X cars (and IIRC the K-cars then trumped the X cars for recalls).

HUH?

LOL

The K car was produced on an entirely different scale than the GM X cars. Take a look at the recalls versus the number of vehicles made. The GM X car was only made from 1980 to 1985, the K car was produced in MUCH higher numbers for three times as long.

The Chrysler K car was a bland crappy entry level car, but it was head and shoulders better than the Citation and it's derivatives were.

NO comparison.

The Aspen/Volares rusted and had rust issues for sure, but they were mechanically not that bad a vehicle. ALL domestic cars had rust issues 30 years ago though. Sad, but true.

GM X cars begat the FWD A bodies, they were basically X cars with bigger rear seats/trunks. They lasted until 1996, so GM got some $$ out of that platform.

Chrysler has said that the Caliber has brought in more poriftiable sales than the Neon did. But, i do believe that thye need a compact sedan below it, along with a B class subcompact car.

Part of that "profitable sales" bit comes from the fact that they shared the platform and engine development with Mitsubishi and Hyundai, which had to have cut the costs quite a bit. The Neon was developed entirely in-house.

Since the platform is related to that of the Avenger/Sebring, maybe Chrysler felt having a compact sedan with many of the midsize's attributes would cut into the bigger cars' sales. All I know is that the Caliber, to me, is basically a disappointment compared to the very solid Cobalt or even (dare I say it) the entirely out-of-date Focus. And that doesn't even begin to consider the huge image gap next to the Japanese or Korean entries on the market.